


Different Kind of Gift

by Megatraven



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 08:26:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5578447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megatraven/pseuds/Megatraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crack appears in the stone heart of Gabriel Agreste, and decides to give Adrien a gift himself for his birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Different Kind of Gift

**Author's Note:**

> For thepenguinsledder on Tumblr
> 
> I wrote this for the prompt 'Subtle Kindnesses.'

A year was just about to pass, marking another year that Adrien had been alive. That’s right, it was his birthday once again. Gabriel knew it. He had always known when his son’s birthday was, how could he not? It just so happened to also mark the day his wife had left him, the day his heart encased itself in stone to avoid shattering. That didn’t mean, though, that every once in awhile a crack would appear in the stone, and release the tiniest amount of warmth from inside.

It almost never let warmth seep through during the year, let alone on his son’s birthday. He barked out a command to Natalie, with Adrien in mind. “Natalie! Reschedule my next appointment for the next possible time!” He heard the woman’s flustered actions and within a minute she was in front of his desk, leaning forward slightly. Her frame was still stiff, but he could tell how she had rushed to meet his demand.

“But sir, we’ve been waiting for this for mont-” she had began, but was silently cut off by a glare from Gabriel. She swallowed and straightened, “Yes, sir. I’ll reschedule right away, sir.” With that, she walked away, not even daring to ask why the sudden change. 

The man looked at the time and pushed his chair out, climbing to his feet and rubbing the creases out of his suit. His son should be home by now, and it was an ideal time for Gabriel to do something he hadn’t done in a long time. He opened the top drawer of his desk, and reached into its deepest confines. His hand brushed up against a dusty, wrapped object, and he took it out with a surprisingly gentle touch. His eyes swept over it, and his hand brushed the dust from it. Underneath the paper, the last gift Gabriel had really picked out for his son was held, protected from the outside world.

It was a gift that hadn’t seen the light of day since it was wrapped, and it had never been uncovered because of Gabriel’s other half leaving him. He’d planned on giving it to Adrien for a birthday years ago, only to find himself unable to care, unable to provide comfort to the boy who had lost the same person he himself lost.

This time, though, would be different. Gabriel didn’t have enough strength or enough love to both give his son the gift and stay for a reaction, but he could do one of them. Leaving his office behind for a few short minutes, he walked down long, decorated corridors, numb to how cold, calculated, and void of feeling the halls were. Finding Adrien’s room was easy, but getting himself to knock was… well, not difficult, but took some measure of effort. When his fist finally came down on the door, he heard somebody whispering something inside, and then scrambling as that someone rushed to the door.

When it opened, Gabriel stood face-to-face to Adrien, whose face showed shock when he registered who it was standing in his doorway. “Father,” he said, with a polite nod of his head. “Is there something you need me to do?” Because why else would the famed Gabriel Agreste be at his door? Surely he needed something.

“Adrien. It’s my understanding that it is your birthday once again.” His voice was cool and stern, but the eye contact with his son didn’t waiver. Gabriel took the wrapped gift from behind his back and handed it to his son rather forcefully. “You may open this when my presence is no longer here.” He straightened his tie, and walked around the corner, staying there instead of going back to his office right away.

In Adrien’s room, the model stood with the most shocked expression on his face, and when it dawned on him that his dad - his dad! - had given him a gift personally, he let out a loud ‘whoop!’ and immediately darted to his phone. He dialed up Nino’s numer quickly, and upon the first few seconds of Nino answering, Adrien practically shouted about what just happened. It took a little while for him to calm down enough to actually open it, but when he did, his face lit up and he gasped. In his hands, he gingerly lifted up an old book, one that he hadn’t seen for years. Adrien couldn’t say he was excited at what it was, really, since he can’t recall if he had ever even wanted something like this, but that didn’t clip his wings. His spirits and mood still soared, and he started to talk in easy-flowing, rapid sentences with Nino.

Gabriel Agreste sighed in the hallway, and started back to his office. Since no one was around, no one would ever see the smallest hints of a smile playing on the man’s lips. No one would see it, but the man would remember it. Maybe, one day, he could do better. Maybe that would be the day his son actually opened the book. The memory of what he had written inside would never leave the designer’s mind. How could one forget the last words written by both himself and his love? The last words that would ever serve as proof that he did, at some point, truly love his son. Arriving in his office, he called for Natalie once again. “Move my next appointment up to now, Natalie. I do not like to be kept waiting.”


End file.
